


THEY'RE REALLY JUST TRYING

by makeshiftrolley



Series: The Dance of the Two Left Feet [3]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Parents, Dysfunctional Family, M/M, Post-Canon, Sibling Rivalry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-10
Updated: 2017-09-10
Packaged: 2018-12-25 21:30:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12044670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/makeshiftrolley/pseuds/makeshiftrolley
Summary: No one stopped them when they decided they want to raise a kid.They were never meant to be parents but that doesn't stop them from trying.(AU where Jean Ryder and Reyes Vidal have a kid years after the events of ME:A)





	THEY'RE REALLY JUST TRYING

 

 

> **I.** Jean names her Clara. He thinks he’s clever when he names her after another character from those books, yet Reyes only sees his mother, Clara. Jean hates his last name. Jean hates all of names. Reyes hates to see his mother in her so she is just Clara; no surnames, no middle names and no first names other than _Clara_.  
>    
>  (If Jean hated his name less, he would name her Maria Clara.)
> 
> **II.** Clara has Jean’s eyes-black yet a close look reveals they are dark brown. Much of her is Jean-small lips, thick eyebrows and a round nose, and the only hint of Reyes is her skin. The rest is her mother, a willing surrogate from Prodomos.   
>    
>  (Clara Vidal had brown eyes, and Reyes’ skin too. Sometimes, he can’t look away. Sometimes, he sees her crying at the grotto of her ancestral home when Reyes said he was never coming back. Perhaps, weeping at the foot of Mother Mary would make Reyes stay but Reyes stopped believing on false promises when his father fell from the skies.)
> 
> **III.** Clara is a biotic. No one ever told them that Eos was a hotbed for eezo when they decided to do this. Jean picks up a cigarette once more. He promises Reyes he’ll do it just today, and he will never pick one up after. Three weeks later, Reyes empties another ashtray filled with stubbed out cigarettes and reacquaints himself with the smoke on Jean’s lips.   
>    
>  (Clara learns quickly. A month later, she’s lifting their adhis down the stairs. She’s brilliant or Jean is a better teacher than he believes.).
> 
> **IV.** Clara wants to be like her Dad.  
>    
>  (Maybe, she should be like Jean: intelligent, passionate, master inventor and a skilled biotic.)  
>    
>  (Maybe, she should be like Reyes: charming, quick-witted, a smooth talker and a skilled shot.)  
>    
>  (Maybe, she should find someone else to be like.)
> 
> **V.** Clara likes Gabriela. She begs to visit her aunt/tia/tita in Ditaeon as often as she tells them of her rock climbing excursions with her aunts/tias/titas.  "The sunset is so pretty up there. We should go there one time. Why don’t we go there one time?“ she says, and once again, Gabriela is better at simple things like loving than Jean. And Gabriela wins the hearts of everyone she meets while Jean shuts them off, and keeps the ones that matters to him. (Then why can he not keep his own daughter?)   
>    
>  Later, she wants to be like Gabriela.  
>    
>  (It’s a good thing she isn’t tired of them giving her the ones they love while they make excuses about work. Maybe she is, wearing a fake smile every time she picks up their adhis and Clara. She _is_ a better liar than Jean.  
>    
>  Maybe, that’s why everyone loves her so much.)
> 
> **VI.** No one prepared them for this.  
>    
>  (They can’t keep using “no one prepared them” as an excuse for every fuck up they have done ever since they decided they were perfectly capable to raise a kid.)
> 
> **VII.** Neither Papa Vidal nor Dad Ryder were there to show them the ropes. Both played hero while they left their wives to raise their children. Both filled their sons with so much hope that it killed them to be like their fathers. Both died heroic deaths, and neither Jean nor Reyes said their farewells.   
>    
>  (They had fathers. Fathers who loved them more than their own fathers. They only wished they had loved them.)
> 
> **VIII.** They are better, better than the sins of their fathers. Jean doesn’t close himself from Clara just as his father did, and Reyes doesn’t fill her heart with empty hopes and dreams just as his father did.
> 
> They stay.
> 
> **IX.** They love Clara.
> 
> **X.** Clara loves them, loves them both.

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted from my tumblr, and was originally going to be part of a drabble collection but I thought it was better on its own.  
> Comments and kudos are appreciated!
> 
> [tumblr](https://thevetranyxs.tumblr.com)


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